Sister's Seitan Saves Dinner!

Kyle told me that I need to improve my time management skills when it comes to grocery shopping, as I'm there what feels like a million times per week. The man had a point. So this week, I decided to plan out my meals for the entire week, and vowed to wait a whole seven days before heading back to one of the many grocery stores that I frequent.

Problem was - I did my meal planning just for me. I totally didn't do meal planning to account for my boyfriend eating at my house (which is not a rare thing) nor the fact that I would have to serve Sam a meal as well. This oversight came to my attention tonight, when Kyle indicated that we would hang out, and I realized that he probably wouldn't want a Tofurky-avocado-tomato-red onion-lettuce sandwich, which I had planned on eating myself tonight.

So I decided that I would make a salad that caught my attention from Healthy Cooking for Kids, as I had purchased the ingredients as part of my grocery time management plan. But I was stumped as to what else to serve, since I had originally planned on eating that with my sandwich! I had been eyeing a recipe on the PPK site, but by the time I would get home from work, I wouldn't have time to make, cook and cool the required seitan from VwaV. Fortunately, Tracy e-mailed me today and indicated that she'd made way too much seitan for her and Pete to eat in a week, so I managed to snag a few pieces! Problem solved!

The result: Amazing Sham Chowder thanks to Pamela on the PPK. I also added some chopped onions to the celery/pepper combo, then added the flour to make a roux before adding in the liquids. I also seasoned it with thyme, celery seed and bay leaf, since I didn't have Old Bay seasoning and didn't even know what goes into that. It was AMAZING! Kyle thought it was good. I told Tracy and Pete to swing by on their way home from work tomorrow night to get a couple servings as a thank-you for the seitan.


And the salad was pretty tasty too. It was called Garden's Gift Salad from the aforementioned Shelley Null book. It featured cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and avocado with a lime-rosemary-basil balsamic vinaigrette. Tasty! I plan on serving it again tomorrow night when Sam comes over before we go see The Holiday movie!

Looks like my grocery time management plan worked out after all, since I'll be able to entertain twice - all unplanned!